Kidd was forced to hang up his boots in 2015 after suffering a life-threatening injury

Retired professional wrestler and current WWE producer Tyson Kidd (real name Theodore James Wilson) was forced to hang up his boots in 2015 after suffering a life-threatening neck/spinal injury from Samoa Joe‘s “Muscle Buster” while working a dark match on RAW. In June 2017, Kidd signed a full-time employee’s deal with WWE, rebooting his career as a backstage producer.

Only 5% of people survive the injury suffered by Kidd who had 16 staples, four screws, and a rod inserted in his neck. Moreover, those few who survive the devastating injury end up quadriplegic, similar to former Superman actor Christopher Reeve.

During a recent interview Jan Murphy of The Kingston Whig-Standard, Kidd revealed that he is friends with Joe, “The Destroyer” who nearly cost him his life 3 years ago.

“There’s an unwritten protocol when you hurt somebody. And when I say you hurt somebody, obviously it’s not on purpose, but it still happens. I know I’ve rocked guys before where I checked on them after to make sure everything’s cool.”

“Joe did come to the hospital that night. We spoke that night. We would text throughout the time I was hurt, but I only saw him face to face when I got hurt and when I did see him that night, things were still up in the air with the severity of my injury. He was definitely remorseful and I think we all are when we hurt somebody and when somebody gets hurt under our watch.”

“Stuff happens. We perform at such a high level so many days a week that things are going to happen. We just have to do the best we can to take care of each other and to let a person know that we’re there for them when they do get hurt.”

“My first day back as a producer after two years, once I was out of meetings, he was the first guy who I Terminator-style sought out and found. And we had a very good talk and we’re friends. We get along great.”